Configure outgoing e-mail (SharePoint Server 2010)

This article describes how to configure outgoing e-mail for a farm or for a specific Web application for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This article also describes how to install and configure the SMTP service that you must use to enable outgoing e-mail.

After you have installed SharePoint Server 2010 and performed the initial configuration of your server farm, you can configure outgoing e-mail. Doing so enables users to create alerts to track such site items as lists, libraries, and documents. In addition, site administrators can receive administrative messages about site administrator issues, such as the information that site owners have exceeded their specified storage space. For more information, see Plan outgoing e-mail (SharePoint Server 2010).

If you want to configure outgoing e-mail for a specific Web application, you must first configure the default outgoing e-mail for all Web applications in the farm. If you configure the outgoing e-mail for a specific Web application, that configuration will override the default configuration for all Web applications in the farm.

Note

You cannot configure outgoing e-mail by using Windows PowerShell.

Before you perform these procedures, confirm that:

Your system is running SharePoint Server 2010.

One or more servers in the server farm are running the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service and have a valid SMTP server address. Alternatively, you must know the name of a server outside the farm that is running the SMTP service.

If you have not installed and configured the SMTP service, you must perform the following procedures before you configure outgoing e-mail:

Before you can enable outgoing e-mail, you must determine which SMTP server to use. This SMTP server must be configured to allow anonymous SMTP e-mail submissions. The SMTP server can be a server in the farm or outside the farm.

Note

If your organization does not allow anonymous SMTP e-mail messages to be sent by using Microsoft Exchange Server, you can use a local SMTP server in the SharePoint farm that accepts anonymous e-mail messages. The local SMTP server automatically authenticates the messages and then forwards them to the Exchange Server computer.

To install the SMTP service, use the Add Features Wizard in Server Manager. After the wizard finishes, a default SMTP configuration has been created. You can customize this default SMTP configuration to meet the requirements of your organization.

Note

If you already have the SMTP service installed on a server, you can skip the following procedure.

To install the SMTP service

Verify that you have the following administrative credentials: You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer

Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

In Server Manager, click Features.

In Features Summary, click Add Features to open the Add Features Wizard.

On the Select Features page, select SMTP Server.

In the Add Features Wizard dialog box, click Add Required Features, and then click Next.

On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install.

On the Installation Results page, ensure that the installation is complete, and then click Close.

After you install the SMTP service, you must configure the service to accept e-mail messages from servers in the farm.

You can decide to accept relayed e-mail messages from all servers except those that you specifically exclude. Alternatively, you can block messages from all servers except those that you specifically include. You can include servers individually or in groups by subnet or domain.

If you enable anonymous access and relayed e-mail messages, you increase the possibility that the SMTP server will be used to relay unsolicited commercial e-mail messages (spam). It is important to limit this possibility by carefully configuring mail servers to help protect against spam. One way that you can do this is by limiting relayed e-mail messages to a list of specific servers or to a domain, and by preventing relayed e-mail messages from all other servers.

Note

To manage the SMTP service on Windows Server 2008, you must use Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager. Ensure that you install IIS 6.0 Management tools in Server Manager.

To install IIS 6.0 Management tools

Verify that you have the following administrative credentials: You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

In Server Manager, click Roles.

In the Role Services section, click Add Role Services.

On the Select Role Services page, select Management Tools and IIS 6 Management compatibility, and then click Install.

To configure the SMTP service

Verify that you have the following administrative credentials: You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

You can configure outgoing e-mail for a farm by using the SharePoint Central Administration Web site or by using the Stsadm command-line tool. Use the following procedures to configure outgoing e-mail. After you complete the procedures, end users can track changes and updates to individual site collections. In addition, site administrators can, for example, receive notices when users request access to a site.

To configure outgoing e-mail for a farm by using Central Administration

Verify that you have the following administrative credentials: You must be a member of the Farm Administrators group on the computer that is running the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.

In Central Administration, click System Settings.

On the System Settings page, in the E-Mail and Text Messages (SMS) section, click Configure outgoing e-mail settings.

On the Outgoing E-Mail Settings page, in the Mail Settings section, type the SMTP server name for outgoing e-mail (for example, mail.example.com) in the Outbound SMTP server box.

In the From address box, type the e-mail address as you want it to be displayed to e-mail recipients.

In the Reply-to address box, type the e-mail address to which you want e-mail recipients to reply.

In the Character set list, select the character set that is appropriate for your language.

Click OK.

To configure outgoing e-mail for a farm by using the Stsadm command-line tool

Verify that you have the following administrative credentials: You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

On the drive on which SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed, change to the following directory: %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft shared\Web server extensions\14\Bin.

You can configure outgoing e-mail for a specific Web application by using the Central Administration Web site or by using the Stsadm command-line tool. Use the following procedures to configure outgoing e-mail. After you complete the procedures, end users can track changes and updates to individual site collections. In addition, site administrators can, for example, receive notices when users request access to a site.

Note

If you want to configure outgoing e-mail for a specific Web application, you must first configure the default outgoing e-mail for all Web applications in the farm. If you configure the outgoing e-mail for a specific Web application, that configuration will override the default configuration for all Web applications in the farm.

To configure outgoing e-mail for a specific Web application by using Central Administration

Verify that you have the following administrative credentials: You must be a member of the Farm Administrators group on the computer that is running the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.